engleski

The first serological confirmation of bats rabies in Croatia

The first serological confirmation of bats rabies in Croatia Ivana Šimić Nina Krešić, Tomislav Bedeković and Ivana Lojkić Laboratory for rabies and general virology, Croatia After elimination of rabies from the wild and domestic animals (last cases was reported in February 2014 in red foxes) the focus of studies regarding rabies was direct to bats. In 2016 the national project Active rabies monitoring in the bat – an important factor for assessing the future threat was started. The project is financed by the Croatian science foundation and the Croatian Veterinary Institute. Except Croatian Veterinary Institute the partners on the project are experts from ANSES and Geonatura. The goals of the projects were detection of rabies virus, detection of specific antibodies against rabies virus and detection of other viruses in bats using metagenomics. The samples were collected throughout the all countries (continental, Mediterranean and Alpine region) from the seven species Eptesicus serotinus, Myotis blythii, Myotis emarginatus, Myotis myotis, Myotis nattereri, Miniopterus schreibersii and Rinolophus ferrumequinum. From each bat the oral swab and blood using filter papers were collected. Also, when is possible the guano and ectoparasites were collected. To the end of the April 2017 154 samples of swabs were tested using PCR and all samples were negative. However, from the 16 tested blood samples in one bat (Myotis blythii) the presence of specific antibodies against rabies was confirmed using virus neutralization test in dilution 1/9. This represents the first serological evidence of bats rabies in Croatia.

bats, rabies, Croatia

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